


So Close, Yet So Far Away

by dropyouranchor



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, EC AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2467733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dropyouranchor/pseuds/dropyouranchor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>au for elise rigby, charlotte rigby, and daniel graham.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Close, Yet So Far Away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tantsija](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tantsija/gifts).



i.

In the darkness, the illuminated screen of the cell phone was bright and an opponent even for the moon. Just as the teenagers thought, general curfew for their town had passed long ago and the early morning hours were quickly approaching. None of them strayed from their path on the sandy beach, passing along a bottle of alcohol and a joint between them all.

Three of them were the usual troublemakers, each with a record to display proudly to each other. But the fourth… she was someone new. Granted, she had a record of her own and fit right in with the group, she still felt like the outsider and had to prove herself. She’d only just moved to the town—the fifth foster home—and she needed to make a name for herself. Elise was a teenager lost in the world, just trying to find a place called home.

When the joint was passed her way, she happily accepted it. While she had avoided the alcohol except for a few times, she did the opposite when it came to the drug. It would be hard to get the smell out of her clothes for when she got back to her foster family’s home, but it was well worth the high she received from it. Mindless chatter was exchanged between the others while Elise tilted her head back to look at the moon and the stars, her arms hanging loosely at her sides and the joint still clasped between her fingers.

Out of nowhere, lights shined out bright from the road and blinded all the teenagers. The three who knew what that meant shouted curses before running off and leaving Elise there to fend for herself. Not that she minded.

Tossing her precious escape off into the water, she stood there with arms crossed over her shoulder as the car rolled to a stop and the lights were cut off. Much like every other time the cops showed up and she was somewhere, Elise just let herself be caught. Most of the time it meant a new foster home for her and she wanted that now more than ever. With eight other kids in the house, Elise was rarely paid any attention to and forgotten about.

The stocky man came down the side of the hill and onto the sand, flipping the switch to his flashlight to point it at Elise. She knew what he saw.

A young girl, dressed in jeans too small, a hoodie too big, a beanie encompassing her bright ginger locks, and converses with holes that showed her lack of socks. More importantly, the sharpness of her face and her eyes. Her eyes that showed she had experienced more trials in life than most people. They were the reason most people pitied her.

“Yes, I reek of alcohol and marijuana. Yes, I’m four hours late for curfew. Go ahead, cuff me.” Elise said casually, holding her hands out.

The man seemed taken aback, turning off the flashlight and looking the girl over. Sheriff Graham usually only has problems with teenagers on the weekends but most of them had the sense to run. This girl didn’t. He looked around as if trying to spy her friends before looking her over again.

“How ‘bout we skip the cuffs and you just come on up to the car so I can take you home?” He offered, only because he didn’t know her. It was his job to know the people of the town but she was unfamiliar… but there was an underlying familiarity that he couldn’t place when the light of the flashlight had been on her face. 

“Fine, we can do it that way. I don’t give a shit.” She mumbled, stalking off past Sheriff Graham.

Elise climbed up the hill while wondering how long she’d have to sleep in before social services would arrive to take her to a new foster home. The adults of the household had already warned her after getting in trouble for stealing from the gas station that she had one more strike.

The Sheriff opened the back door to the car and Elise slid in, pulling off her beanie to run her fingers through her hair and fix the tangled strands. He moved around the car with his eyes trained on her, wary with the way she was acting. He doubted she could even land a good punch on him if she wanted, but her willingness bothered him.

“You’re getting a warning this time. Next time, I’m taking you into the station.” He warned once he got inside, starting up the car and backing out.

“Can’t you just take me to the station now? It would be a nice addition to my lovely record. You should see it, probably puts most of these people to shame.”

Sheriff Graham opened his mouth to say something, but words failed him. Instead, his eyes peeked through the rearview mirror and back at her. Something about her still bothered him to his core, but he blamed it on her attitude.

“So you must be new around here. Mind telling me where you live?”

“Sycamore Street.”

After that, no words passed between the two. Elise had shoved her stolen earbuds into her ears and was listening to music from her old phone—the one thing she’d been allowed to have. He didn’t mind, it was nearing four in the morning and all he wanted was to finish his shift and crawl into his bed. It never did him any good though, not when he’d wake up five hours later to go on another shift.

“What’s your name?” The silence was finally broken, pulling Elise out from her own world.

“Elise.”

“So why did your family move here?” 

“Don’t have a family.”

Elise met his eyes in the mirror, easily noting that he hadn’t expected that. But there wasn’t a look of disgust, shock, or pity like most people had when they realized her situation.

“Foster kid? For how long?

“Since I was a baby. My mother left me at an orphanage. Probably gave the usual ‘I never wanted a child’ speech.”

A lie.

Elise knew how her mother had felt. There were letters. When Elise could read them and understand, she had. In the letters was little to help find her mother, but then again, Elise never bothered to try. She had plenty of information to at least start looking for her parents—both of them—but she refused. If she was given up, she didn’t want to go back to where she was unwanted.

“Father?”

“Living his own life, I guess.”

“How long have you been at this foster home?”

“A month.”

“Plan on staying?”

“Plan on stopping the questions?” Elise retorted, raising an eyebrow.

When Sheriff Graham pulled up to the beaten down house, he killed the engine and looked inside to see all the lights off. He knew the parents of the household, they weren’t the best and had gotten into trouble a few times. If he could help it, he wouldn’t have dropped her off there. Another foster kid in the house was a frequent passenger for him and each time the sheriff hated leaving the kid at the home.

Elise sat there in the backseat, looking at the house. She could have gotten out and left, but she was rooted in the seat. It wasn’t often that she talked to people, especially about her past. But she knew by morning she would be out there and she’d never see the man again.

“You wanna know the worst part?”

Cautious, Sheriff Graham waited for her to continue.

“I could get out of here. I could find my mom or my dad and try to get out of here. I know my mom signed one of her letters ‘C. Rigby’. I have her last name and I can narrow down the first name. And the best part? I know my dad’s name too. His first name, at least. Daniel. I could find either one of them if I really tried and got help but I won’t.”

Elise slid over and pushed open the door, stepping out. “Because what’s the use of a mother who gave me up in the first place and a father who has no idea I exist because she never told him? At least with this life, I know I’m not actually related to any of these people who hurt me.”

She slammed the door shut, walking up to the house and sneaking her way back in the same way she typically would sneak out. Elise had only made it up the stairs when she heard the creaking and knew one of her foster parents was awake and probably dialing the phone. Going up the rest of the way and to her room that she shared with three other girls, Elise packed her single bag.

Still outside in the car, the sheriff sat there with white knuckles as his hands gripping the steering wheel. Automatically, he started up the car and started driving away. Back to the station.

Rigby. The name was ingrained in his head, he knew that it belonged to a fair skinned ginger beauty named Charlotte who he had known long ago. She’d disappeared one day and he’d been empty ever since. The familiarities started to fill in. The face, the hair, the eyes, so much of the girl belonged to Charlotte.

Arriving at the station, he’d made no hesitation in getting out and slamming the car door shut. There was anger, disbelief, hurt, and many more emotions flooding through him as he went to his desk and sat down. He’d only paused for a moment before settling on what he wanted to do. He needed to yell. To confront someone. That’s when the research began and the phone calls.

All until he heard the sleepy voice he’d missed hearing answer his final phone call.

“Hello?”

There were words that he could have said, words ready to flood out but he didn’t say the ones that he’d been wanting to say for years. The anger was too strong.

Daniel Graham had never known about there being a child. His child.

“Charlotte. It’s Daniel.”

ii.

Elise stretched to toss her bag into the back of the Cruze, sliding in after it and settling for the long drive. Much like always, she had no idea where she was going but she didn’t care. Five months were left before she would be an adult and could live her own life. The thought of doing what she wanted excited her, but she knew there was still so much time before she had her freedom.

“Ready to go Elise?”

“Been ready, Alyssa.”

While her social worker moved around the car and got inside, Elise situated herself in the back and tried to make a comfortable place to nap. The car vibrated as it started up and Alyssa pulled away from the curbs. The ginger girl finally settled and had just brought her earbuds to her ears when she heard a noise from the raven haired women up front.

“Looks like the cops are at the house. I wonder what happened.”

Turning around in the seat, Elise perched her chin on the top and stared out the back window to see the sheriff car stopped at the curb. The people were getting smaller, but she recognized the man who was frantically looking around before looking in her direction. The car had already turned the corner a second later.

“Whatever he wanted, I’m just happy to be away from there.”

iii.

Five months. The five months had passed by slowly, but they’d passed nonetheless. There hadn’t been any new foster homes, Elise staying at the group home she’d gone back and forth to over the past couple years. She’d established her room, her friends, and her position in the house. There were people she’d miss but no one that would make her want to stay anywhere nearby. Elise wanted to go out on her own, live her life.

Without the knowledge of the woman who ran the group home, Elise had a bus ticket to get her out of there. The morning of her eighteenth birthday, she’d gone downstairs to eat breakfast and thank everyone who said happy birthday, waiting until she could get back to her bedroom. When the chance to escape had come, she’d snuck her way back up and grabbed the packed bag along with the ticket hidden under the mattress.

Elise cracked open the window to the bedroom, sliding out along the roof with some difficulty. She’d sucked in a sharp breath when she dropped, falling when she landed at the back of the house. Still, she got herself up and out the gate of the fence, running down the street to the bus stop with two minutes to spare.

She could taste her freedom.

Unknown to Elise, pulling into the driveway of the group home the moment she stepped onto the bus had been her parents. Daniel and Charlotte stepping out of the car were excited, nervous, and scared to see their daughter finally after all the trouble they’d been given. 

But Elise was already gone.


End file.
